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inside and look for her when she came running out of the back of the house.”
    â€œPeople get separated sometimes. Thank God she’s safe. What’s crazy about that?”
    â€œYou’re going to love her explanation of how she got out of the house.”
    â€œQuit teasing. Everyone will be here soon. What happened?”
    â€œThe little girl said a big black-and-white puppy ran into the house, grabbed her by the hand, and led her out.”
    â€œWhat?” Stella’s heart beat faster.
    â€œThat’s what she said.”
    There wasn’t enough time to ask any more questions. Ricky drove the engine up on the curb with the pumper/ladder truck right behind him.
    Petey brought Stella her gear. She also brought gear for John, but he couldn’t change. He’d have to work the fire as a police officer, keeping people safely away. Already a small crowd of spectators had gathered in the yard.
    In record time, the first hose team had set up and was soaking the house with water. They were shorthanded. Bert wasn’t able to come and neither could Dean. They would have to make do with who they had.
    John moved the stricken Loflin family out of the way so nothing happened to them while the fire brigade was working.
    Stella was proud of the team’s quick arrival on the scene and their speedy hook up to the hydrant. There had been some problems working with hydrants earlier in their training. It seemed they had come a long way since she’d first arrived to face the group of raw recruits.
    â€œGet a ladder up there.” Stella pointed to the roof where flames had blackened the light gray shingles.
    JC and Royce responded, raising a ladder to the top of the house and going up, pickaxes in hand. They would have to vent the roof to let smoke out and water in.
    Petey took her hose team in to get water to the flaming roof. Fire soared into the late evening sky as the volunteers fought to contain it.
    In the end, it was as Stella had feared. The house, and probably most of its contents, were destroyed. It wasn’t because of her volunteers, though. They’d done a great job. She couldn’t have been more proud of them.
    She could see from their smudged faces that they were going to need a pep talk when they got back to the firehouse. It was hard losing to fire, but there were times when nothing more could be done to prevent the destruction. This had been one of those times. Even knowing that didn’t make it any easier for her. She simply had more experience with success and failure as a firefighter.
    The husband-and-wife team who owned the
Sweet Pepper Gazette
were there taking pictures. Everyone in town called them the Smittys. They had stayed a respectful distance away from the action as the firefighters had worked.
    Stella saw them interviewing the Loflins. She hoped the family would appreciate the effort put in by her crew. Sometimes civilians weren’t kind to those who risked their lives to attempt to save other people’s homes.
    Once the fire was completely out, the members of the fire brigade moved through the hot ashes and debris to make sure there were no sparks left that could reignite.
    Banyin poked and prodded as Kent and JC used fire extinguishers on hot spots. Ricky and Petey were putting the hoses back on the trucks.
    â€œThis burned too hot and too fast.” Stella sifted through what was left of the house with John at her side. “I’m sure we’re going to find out this was arson.”
    He glanced toward the Loflins. “I don’t believe they’re responsible.”
    â€œI hope not.”
    â€œI’ve been afraid something like this would happen. Our thief who likes to play with fire probably got carried away. You know how that goes. Don is so stubborn about keeping you informed. I’m sorry.”
    â€œIt doesn’t really matter. Even though we knew it could happen, we can’t be everywhere. There wasn’t